


Progression

by standarddeviationwut (ocoa)



Category: The Maze Runner (Movies), The Maze Runner Series - All Media Types, The Maze Runner Series - James Dashner
Genre: ALL OF IT, AU, Angst, College Professor!Newt, Detective everybody, Detective!Brenda, Detective!Frypan, Detective!Minho, Detective!Teresa, Detective!Thomas, M/M, Mystery, Slight OOC, except newt, innocent af Thomas, le gaspp the vulgarities, long story, so many, spoilers in the tags, trigger depression and suicide
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-02
Updated: 2015-08-02
Packaged: 2018-04-12 14:23:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,859
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4482635
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ocoa/pseuds/standarddeviationwut
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“I love you.”</p><p>“You… You’re just going to spring that on me?”</p><p>“Yes.”</p><p>“But I…”</p><p>“If you don’t like me that way then just tell me you bugger.”</p><p>“It’s not- Oh screw it.”</p><p>Thomas reached over and caught the back of Newt’s head. Leaning in, he pressed his lips to Newt’s.</p><p>...</p><p>Or, the story about moving on</p><p>But not really.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Progression

His dream is nice, warm and buzzing with light. He hears a snort, and thinks that maybe he had actually voiced it out.

“You did.” He looked up, and couldn’t help but smile even with the confusion spinning in his head. Newt wore a cheeky smile, and let himself fall back, his arm knocking against Thomas’. Thomas thinks it’s a dream, because Newt’s not supposed to be here. He doesn’t say that out loud, and instead, he moves to wrap his arms around Newt. Newt squawked, his chest erupting into giggles as he tried to wiggle out of the hug. His laughter died when Thomas tightened his hold and hid his face into Newt’s shoulder.

He knows what Newt must look like, all furrowed eyebrows and concern. He doesn’t look up, not even when Newt carefully drags his hand through Thomas’ hair, fingers tracing a thin trail of comfort. “What’s wrong, Tommy?”

Thomas shook his head. He didn’t want to say anything, not when Newt was still here and in his arms. Newt huffed, before wriggling to face Thomas and wrapping his arms around Thomas. “I won’t leave you Thomas,” his voice began to distort, and his fingers dug into Thomas’ back. Thomas gasped in pain, and couldn’t help but look up.

Thomas screamed, the dusty blanket falling off his chest as he startled up, his heart racing too fast for him to realise that he was in his office. He doesn’t comprehend fat enough that there’s someone else with him, and only looked up when his heart rate slows and his breathing became steadier. She was wearing that look again. Worry in her sleep worn eyes and her lips pulled into a thin line. He took the cup of coffee she handed to him, and gingerly sipped the steaming liquid.

“I think you should pull out of the case, Tom.” She stated snippily, her eyes narrowing at him. “Look at yourself. He won’t be happy to see you like this.” He groaned, the buzzing in his head making everything too loud and too bright. Annoyance filled him, and he slammed the cup on his desk before pointedly heading out the office. Teresa followed him, giving out a loud sigh as she did.

“Oh for goodness sakes Tom, at least go get some sleep! You’re being worse than usual. You haven’t slept for ten days, that thirty minute break wasn’t goddamn enough!” Her voice was almost screechy, a nagging that was too loud and too constant. He ignored her, instead pushing into the meeting room.

The others stop mid-discussion, and he glared at them. “Why didn’t anyone get me?” He demanded, and Teresa let out a frustrated huff from behind him.

Minho gave her a look, before relenting and staring Thomas in the eye. “I have the right mind to get you knocked off the case Edison.” Thomas growled at him, and Minho levelled a glower at him.

“Fuck off Minho. I’m the head of this case, not you.”

Minho doesn’t react, instead, his eyes soften and his voice turned almost uncharacteristically gentle. “Thomas, you have to let go. If you’re this affected, you should at least stay at Teresa’s,” Teresa nodded, “and clear your head.” He crossed over to Thomas and placed a hand on his shoulder. “We’re worried for you, man.”

He looked at Minho in the eye, before glaring at him and shrugging off his hand. He dumped himself onto his chair, and stared at Frypan. “Tell me what I missed.” He ground out.

Minho sighed, before conceding and gesturing for Frypan to continue.

Frypan hesitated, before reluctantly starting from the top. “We got the autopsy on the body…”

* * *

 

“They’re right, you know? You should rest.” Newt laid his head against the back of Thomas’. Thomas ignored him, and continued to flip through the file. Newt huffed, annoyed, before plucking the file from Thomas’ hands. His eyes gleamed with interest, and he gave an indignant ‘Hey!’ when Thomas stole it back from his hands.

Thomas sighed, looking up at Newt, who rolled back to his side of the bed and looked at Thomas expectantly. He glanced back at the file, before exhaling through his nose, and clamouring onto the bed. Newt immediately grinned, before reaching around Thomas’ waist.

“Cheers,” he cackled, before leaning his head onto Thomas’ shoulder. Thomas turned to face him, and Newt quickly pecked him on the cheek, pulling away with an elfish grin. Thomas felt the tension melt away from his body, and began to smile as he closed his eyes, sinking into the warmth of Newt’s arms.

He fell asleep quickly.

* * *

 

Minho rushed into the office one day, his footsteps urgent and the glint in his eyes telling of a discovery.

“We’ve got something!”

The department looked up at the volume, and Thomas quickly pushed his way to where Minho set down the report.

“I went around asking his friends and colleagues at Palace University about his recent behaviour, almost all of them said that the victim had been acting atypically for the past few weeks. They said that during his breaks, he would stare off into space. No one thought strangely of it since he never raised anything up, and wasn’t acting too differently.”

Zart hummed as he picked up the report from Thomas’ hands, ignoring the withering frown Thomas gave, and flipped through it quickly. “What’s that say about the case?”

Minho gave a shake of the head. He looked a lot less happy about the news now. “We might need to head downtown.”

* * *

 

Thomas flipped through the coroner’s report, his eyes starting to strain in the dim light. He flipped through, trying to read Brenda’s cursive writing as the night only seemed to get darker outside. He looked up when he saw movement, and couldn’t help but smile as Newt dumped his briefcase onto the chair.

“Hey.” He greeted, Newt just gave a noncommittal hum. Thomas winced in sympathy, standing up to wrap his arms around Newt. “Long day?” Newt leaned forward, nodding as he closed his eyes and breathed in Thomas’ cologne.

“Some kids thought they were too smart for the class and kept disrupting it.”

Thomas gave a hum, before pressing his lips to his boyfriend’s temple. Newt gave a satisfied sigh, before pulling away.

“Come on, we have a reservation at Sonya’s. You know how bad the traffic downtown gets on Friday.” Thomas gave a short laugh.

“Yeah, let’s go.”

* * *

 

“Police.” Minho’s expression was free of his usual smirk as he raised his badge. The girl at the counter looked up and paled. Minho leant down, his form exuding dominance as he looked the girl in the eye. “We need to see Doctor Paige.” The girl gulped, before nodding and grabbing the headset.

“Director… The police are here…Okay, yes ma’am.” The girl stood, looking briefly at another girl to replace her at the counter. She gestured for Thomas and Minho to follow her. Thomas felt a stab of sympathy when he noticed the quiver in her arm. But he looked away, following after Minho and pressing his lips closed.

The woman in the room they were led to sat tall, her pointed nose held high and a tight smile on her structured face. She soundlessly waved her hand at the empty seats in front of her, and they obliged. Thomas crossed his arms, watching her carefully as Minho began the interrogation.

Standard procedure.

Except it wasn’t.

He could feel the tension thick in the air, making it hard to breathe. Minho seemed to feel it too, with how his hand seemed to, for a fraction of a second, brush over the gun he wore at his hip. Nevertheless, he quickly started, sliding the picture in front of the woman. Almost reflexively, Thomas averted his eyes, ignoring the weight in his chest.

Ava Paige gave a cursory glance to the photo, before her immaculately manicured eyebrow quirked upwards. She turned her eerie smile to them, and lifted her head in a way that was both questioning and condescending.

“You know him.” Minho stated simply. She smiled, plastic and controlled.

“I’m afraid my clients generally want to keep anonymous. Even with a badge I can’t help you.” She glanced meaningfully at Thomas, who narrowed his eyes at her.

“Don’t fuck with me, Doctor Paige.” Paige didn’t seem fazed by Minho’s roughness.

“I prefer Director, actually, officer. Now, if you don’t have a warrant I’m afraid I have no obligation to help you.”  Minho ground his teeth, before growling. Thomas decided to stand up and end the conflict. He was tired, beyond that.

“I’m sorry Director, but we really need this information.” Paige only gave the same smile as she did before.

“Then get a warrant, Thomas. Now men, if you would please leave before you give Rachel a heart attack.” Thomas narrowed her eyes at her, but nevertheless obliged and grabbed Minho by the arm and dragged him out.

“What the fuck was wrong with that bitch?” Minho napped as they left WCKD Psych. He sent a cursory glance at the isolated shop, his frown deepening.

“She knew my name.” He whispered, and Minho stopped ranting in order to look at him. Thomas pressed his lips together, his throat dry, and bile at the back of his mouth.

Minho gave him a prying look, but didn’t say a word.

* * *

 

“Hey, you alright?” Newt looked up, pulling his palm away from his hair where he had been crushing it within his grasp. Thomas sat beside him, hand reaching to curl around Newt’s fingers. The blond shook his head, his smile brittle and unconvincing.

“I’m fine.” He said curtly, before returning to his work.

“Newt-“

“I said I’m fine, Tommy.”

At that, the blond stood, pulling his hand away from Thomas and grabbing his keys. Thomas stood, tailing him as he opened the front door.

“Where are you-“

“Out!” The door slammed in his face, and he blinked, mouth still open mid-sentence. He clenched his teeth, worry turning to anger as he glared at the door and turned back to the room.

Newt didn’t come back until the next night.

* * *

 

Minho groaned as he looked at the autopsy photos again, before tossing them onto the table in frustration. They slid across the smooth surface, spreading out.

Thomas stared at them, numb with a bitter taste in his mouth.

He kept staring at them, the deep stab embedded into pallid bloodless skin. He swallowed back, before freezing. He shuffled the pictures around, before his eyes widened in realisation.

* * *

 

“Where were you yesterday?”

“Tommy, I am really not in the mood to do this now.”

“When will you be? Why won’t you tell me anything?”

“Shucking hell Thomas-“

“I’m your _boyfriend_. Why can’t you trust me?”

“I do trust it’s just-“

“Just what? You’ve been isolating yourself, Newt. What’s happened to you? You used to tell me everything.”

“I’m sorry, I just can’t. Not now.”

“Then when?”

“I…”

“I’m tired of waiting for you to tell me, Newt. I’ve been constantly here, trying to support you, but you aren’t telling me anything!”

“I-“

“I’m done. We’re over.”

“Tommy! Tommy, wait! Tommy…”

The sobbing shadowed him all the way to Teresa’s house.

* * *

 

Thomas swallowed as he stared at the house. He crawled below the yellow tape, before stepping into the house. It was deathly quiet, the neighbours were all advised to stay at their relative’s places while the investigation continued.

He walked down the familiar hallway, before stopping at the apartment. He walked in and turned to the bathroom. The tape was still there, the blood wiped away after the photos were taken. Thomas frowned, before turning again into the master bedroom.

Pulling on gloves, he shuffled through the room, carefully inspecting the room. He knew where everything was, where everything was held. He slowed to a stop at the pictures. Carefully placed on over the dressers, the frozen smiles only seemed to mock him.

A thought hit him, and he quickly extracted the back of the frame. He closed his eyes, in resignation and grief.

He took out a Ziploc bag, and dropped the papers into the bag.

* * *

 

He ran through the hallways, his mind uttering a prayer as he wound through the endless beige hallways. Tears were stinging at his eyes, and he hoped, begged that it wasn’t true.

“Are you Mr Edison?” He nodded, his lungs collapsing in exertion. “I’m sorry, but he was found too late.” His heart stuttered, ice crawling up his veins. “The police will be here soon-”

“Police?” He managed to choke out.

“Thomas!” He turned around. Brenda and Minho wore sympathetic looks. They nodded to the doctor and raised their badges.

“What… What are you doing here?” Thomas’ eyes stung, and he could barely see his friends through the spinning in his head.

“Oh, Thomas,” Brenda started, but she hesitated, looking at Minho. The Korean looked at him sadly, before shaking his head.

“We just came back from your place. It was… It was really bad. There may be foul play.” Thomas froze, everything around him sounding far away and distorted. He couldn’t think, couldn’t understand. He swallowed back the lodge in his throat.

“W-What?”

Minho faltered, before he hardened his jaw and looked at Thomas straight.

“Newt may have been murdered by someone, Thomas.”

* * *

Minho took the evidence gingerly, wide-eyed. He stared at Thomas carefully, as if worried that Thomas would break down in front of him.

Thomas didn’t need to, he was already too far numb to cry.

“There…There’s a receipt inside. It’s for WCKD. They prescribed MAOIs. There’s also,” his voice crackled, and he wavered, before gritting his teeth. He forced his voice to steady. “There’s also a suicide note.”

As the words fell off his tongue, he felt the weight of it. That was it. There was a sense of finality to it.

He knew what the note said, memorised it like the back of his hand.

“I… I’m leaving it to you to…” he coughed. “Take care of everything else for me.” He felt his lips twitch, felt the tremble in his shoulders. “I’m… I’m taking paid leave for the next few months. I… need to do something.”

Minho nodded, curious but not asking.

“Okay.”

* * *

Minho watched Thomas leave, heart heavy. He ignored the feeling, instead, moving to the lab to get the team to look through the new evidence. With this, they could get a warrant, and maybe bring Paige to court as a witness.

He took a shuddering sigh and glanced down at the note.

_I’m sorry Tommy. If you’ve ever loved me, let me go._

Minho felt the grief as a weight in his chest. He refused to think about the bright eyed blond who saved Thomas from himself, nor about the same blond who became one of Minho’s closest friends.

Right now, he wasn’t that guy.

Minho pushed his way to the lab.

He would mourn later.

* * *

Thomas sat in the middle of the field, the cloudy English sky hanging over him like a blanket. He closed his eyes, and leant back.

_“Isn’t this nice?” A cheeky smile framed by the light of the setting sun. Thomas huffed mockingly, playing annoyed._

_“It would be, if we hadn’t had to drive 6 hours from your place to here.” Newt laughed, a chime of a bell in an otherwise empty field._

_“I loved coming here during my childhood. All surrounded by quiet, away from the constant chatter of the city.” Thomas felt a pang of jealousy, but mentally chided himself. He had no reason to be jealous._

_“You didn’t bring anyone else here did you?” Newt looked at him, before smirking._

_“What, you’re jealous? How petty Tommy. Nah, I didn’t. You’re my first.” He smiled in that way that seemed to make the words seem like an inside joke. Thomas, nevertheless, was satisfied, and tackled his best friend to the ground. They play-wrestled for a while, but soon settled into a companionable silence._

_Newt turned his head, and seemed to watch Thomas in a hypnotic way, his eyes fond._

_“I love you.” He said simply. Thomas froze, turning to Newt with wide eyes._

_“What?”_

_“I love you.”_

_“You… You’re just going to spring that on me?”_

_“Yes.”_

_“But I…”_

_“If you don’t like me that way then just tell me you bugger.”_

_“It’s not- Oh screw it.”_

_Thomas reached over and caught the back of Newt’s head. Leaning in, he pressed his lips to Newt’s. A chaste, but sweet kiss. He pulled away, blush vibrant under his skin. He glanced anywhere but Newt._

_“I… I love you, too. But I wanted to be the one to say it, you asshole.”_

_Newt grinned as Thomas ranted. He grabbed Thomas’ cheeks and leaning in again for another kiss, this one was less innocent._

_They pulled apart, heated and passionate, their breaths dancing on each other’s lips. Thomas could see the warmth in Newt’s eyes, and leant in to bump his head against Newt’s. They laughed, before Thomas smiled._

_“I lo_ ve you.” He called out to the wind, his eyes fluttering close.

_“I love you too, Tommy.”_

**Author's Note:**

> That was fun. Never wrote this type of long running AU fic before. Hope you liked, please kudos if you do. (give me, I'm thirsty for them)


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